DHS Terminates Temporary Protected Status for Afghanistan

The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on May 13, 2025 the termination of the designation of Afghanistan for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), after determining that the conditions in Afghanistan no longer support a TPS designation. The termination will be effective July 12, 2025*.  DHS has automatically extended the validity of employment authorization documents (EADs) through July 12, 2025* for those individuals in TPS status from Afghanistan with EADs in the category A12 or C19 and expiration dates of either May 20, 2025 or November 20, 2023; beginning July 13, 2025, beneficiaries of TPS Afghanistan must be reverified with other acceptable I-9 documents before they can continue working.

*The termination notice published in the Federal Register contains a discrepancy as to the termination effective date, and you may see conflicting reports as to the same; the notice provides that the termination of the Afghanistan TPS designation will be effective 60 days from the notice’s publication date (which would be July 12, 2025), but then references a specific termination date of July 14, 2025. The official communication on the termination from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and its webpage on Afghanistan TPS provide a termination date for the designation and associated EADs of July 12, 2025, which is the date that is actually 60 days from the notice’s publication date.